It’s been a week since the fiasco. Things have been going very well. I can feel the confidence growing daily and it’s getting easier (less pressure) to simply shoot the bow. Barring some unforeseen setback, I plan to increase my weight by a 5 or 6 pounds in the next week or two.

I know what you mean tc about getting to full draw and watching as the arrow flies to the mark. Something about that visual I guess, is what draws all of us to this stuff.

"Archery is really very simple. You just have to do the exact same thing on every shot"Bill Leslie, July 22, 2017

Yohon wrote:I'll tell you this Jim, to me, the bridge is THE secret to this whole approach, at 1st I didnt beleive it would do anything but I was wrong. Its what instills confidence in your bale shot, lets you trust it more than what you were doing before. I think you should call Rod and listen to him explain it better than the typed word.

exactly what yohon said.

also, there is a ring of truth to what FD said about it being a hobby as well as to what TC said about your brain reverting back to what it is used to doing under hunting pressure.

this year, i have not shot my bow in 5 months until just a few nights ago. my first 10 shots were on the bail then out to the targets. the first shot on a target was around 25 yards and i couldn't believe how perfect i hit the foam deer. for the first 25 or so arrows, i was on fire from 10-35 yards (working the bridge after that first shot)..... at that point, the lack of shooting started to show as my muscles started fatiguing very fast and my form fell apart..... i immediately stopped shooting. i attribute the first 25-30 well placed shots to all the time spent on the bail/bridge drills..... and more importantly...... my decision to know when it is time to call "no mas" on a shooting session. all of the time spent on working the drills has instilled that wanting to shoot after your form starts to deteriorate from fatigue is the absolute worst thing i can do for both my form and my confidence...... and confidence is the key when drawing down on a live animal.

along the lines of what FD was saying..... before i flung an arrow the other night, i had already told myself that if my shooting had gone to pot from the lack of practice, i was either going to happily throw a sight on the recurve, or send the hoyt protech i bought as a dedicated finger shooting compound out to be film dipped and hunt with it. one thing i have learned since my bout with TP was that i love bowhunting much more than i love shooting a bow....... and i'll happily climb into a stand with any bow or bow/sight combo and enjoy the hunt before i'll ever sit in a stand again and fear wounding an animal just so i can hunt with my "favorite" bow.

Gun Control - A theory espoused by some monumentally stupid people; who claim to believe, against all logic and common sense, that a violent predator who ignores the laws prohibiting them from robbing, raping, kidnapping, torturing and killing their fellow human beings will obey a law telling them that they cannot own a gun.

Gun Control - A theory espoused by some monumentally stupid people; who claim to believe, against all logic and common sense, that a violent predator who ignores the laws prohibiting them from robbing, raping, kidnapping, torturing and killing their fellow human beings will obey a law telling them that they cannot own a gun.

Gino Bruno wrote:and i'll happily climb into a stand with any bow or bow/sight combo and enjoy the hunt before i'll ever sit in a stand again and fear wounding an animal just so i can hunt with my "favorite" bow.

I guess it’s time for an update—perhaps the last time I’ll need to post on this thread—or not.

It’s been 17 and half months since the Rod Jenkins clinic at Lancaster. Lately, I’ve been shooting very well (for me) and for the last month or so, I’ve been in “complete” control of my shot on the bale and bridge out to about 20 yards, which is as far as I can shoot next to the house. I’m not about to declare victory just yet, but feel very comfortable with where I am considering how bad the target panic was on the right side.

An interesting note:

I got bogged down a bit at maintainable state. I was having difficulty holding as long as I wanted. After watching the MBB Volume IV, I stated using a mantra as described by Joel Turner. When I would reach maintainable state, I simply repeated, “Maintain maintainable state to conclusion.” It worked wonders, and after getting used to it, I now just count to three. The arrow now goes off somewhere between 2 and 3. I guess you can pick up a nugget just about anywhere.

I guess it’s now time to take F.D.’s advice and, “Just shoot the #$%# bow.”

"Archery is really very simple. You just have to do the exact same thing on every shot"Bill Leslie, July 22, 2017

Jim Casto Jr wrote:I guess it’s time for an update—perhaps the last time I’ll need to post on this thread—or not.

It’s been 17 and half months since the Rod Jenkins clinic at Lancaster. Lately, I’ve been shooting very well (for me) and for the last month or so, I’ve been in “complete” control of my shot on the bale and bridge out to about 20 yards, which is as far as I can shoot next to the house. I’m not about to declare victory just yet, but feel very comfortable with where I am considering how bad the target panic was on the right side.

An interesting note:

I got bogged down a bit at maintainable state. I was having difficulty holding as long as I wanted. After watching the MBB Volume IV, I stated using a mantra as described by Joel Turner. When I would reach maintainable state, I simply repeated, “Maintain maintainable state to conclusion.” It worked wonders, and after getting used to it, I now just count to three. The arrow now goes off somewhere between 2 and 3. I guess you can pick up a nugget just about anywhere.

I guess it’s now time to take F.D.’s advice and, “Just shoot the #$%# bow.”

That's really damn funny because as I was reading this I was saying out loud "Jim, just shoot the f@#king bow!" It's not work, it's fun. Relax and have fun with it.

Jim....are you shooting w/ or wo the clicker? Just a word of caution from someone who fell in the "counting" trap.....use something else with no "finish" to it. I like to say 'keep' and just say it in my head till it goes off......numbers got me in trouble because in my head there was a number I was going to end at and started anticipating that. Just some past troubles of mine speaking out for you

I'm shooting without the clicker, John. I do plan to use it during my hunting sessions this fall though.

I understand exaclty what you mean about the number trap--been there too. Repeating the mantra, "Maintain maintainable state to conclusion", helped a great deal, and while changing to counting I'm not really looking for an ending. It seems to keep my mind occupied to conclusion-staying ahead of the next step. (It kind of goes back to our PM chat a while back about the clicker, continued pulling, etc.) All I can say is, thanks, I understand, and so far so good.

Now that's you're over that bridge stuff, now you begin the Tight Rope. It's basically all the same stuff from the bridge except there's a guy behind you with a stop watch and you have to do all the exercises correctly, within the allotted time, while Megan Fox stuffs living goldfish in your underpants, or you receive an electric shock. We're with you, man! You can do this!